Animals exempt from tagging

Bobby Calves

Bobby calves are calves less than 30 days old sent to a meat processor from their birth farm. You don't need to tag, register or record anything with NAIT when sending them off farm. All other calves need to be tagged and registered with NAIT, and their movements recorded.

Fallow deer

You need to provide an annual tally of fallow deer at your location. Untagged fallow deer can move between farms, but a movement must still be recorded in NAIT.

Trophy stags

Trophy stags don’t need to be tagged if they’re born at a game estate, wildlife park or zoo, although you need to provide an annual tally of trophy stags at your location.

If you send trophy stags from a game estate, safari park, or zoo to another property you must tag and register them in NAIT first.

If you receive tagged deer at a game estate, safari park or zoo you must apply to us before removing any tags.

Unsafe to tag (UTT) animals

Animals that are large or aggressive and present a risk to the PICA or other farm staff may be considered UTT for NAIT purposes. You can only move UTT animals to an accredited meat processor — the exception is trophy stags which can also be moved to another game estate, safari park or zoo.

UTT animals are exempt from tagging if you:

• declare them by recording a UTT movement in your NAIT account before you move the animal
• clearly mark them with a red X so they can be identified by the meat processor or inspectors.
• pay a UTT levy of $13 (plus GST) for each UTT animal — this will be deducted by the meat processor.

To declare an animal ‘unsafe to tag’ you need to provide the:

• NAIT number of the farm the animals are moving from
• NAIT number of the location (meat processor, game estate, safari park or zoo) the animals are moving to
• exact number of UTT animals in the movement
• animal’s gender, breed and approximate age
• date the animal will be sent.

If your animals are not exempt and have no tag

It's an offence under the NAIT Act to move untagged animals without an exemption.

If you send animals to a meat processor without a tag or an unsafe-to-tag exemption they must declare this when they update their NAIT records. The normal slaughter levy of $0.50c (plus GST) applies to these animals. Your meat processor may also charge additional fees for untagged animals as they lose revenue from animals that are ineligible for some export markets.

Monitoring untagged animals

We monitor animals moved to meat processors without a NAIT tag to find out if:

• they are truly UTT
• they have lost their tag in transit, or
• you haven't complied with NAIT — in this case, you may be investigated for an infringement or fine.

This helps us improve tags and tagging practices.

Tags lost in transit

If you notice a high number of your tagged animals arriving at the meat processor untagged, we recommend scanning them as they leave your farm. We can update the NAIT records for you.

Call or email us so we can update your NAIT records. This way you'll avoid possible investigations for untagged animals, although we can't guarantee that the meat processor will refund their fees.